- We're often all encouraged to spend more time in nature,
to explore the forests, lakes, and mountains
of our home countries.
You know, that it's good for the soul.
And for many these places are a sanctuary,
far removed from the dangers and grime
of the modern city.
But for some, this search for a serene spot
in the countryside brings them face to face
with fear, danger, and mystery.
Here are 10 spooky wilderness mysteries.
Number 10 is Knocking at the Door.
Several years ago, Redditor, Shadowhandler,
was staying in a cabin in a remote part
of the Idaho wilderness with a friend.
The cabin itself was up a narrow track,
50 miles from the nearest town.
At midnight, the two friends were lying in bunk beds,
laughing about something, when they heard a loud
scraping noise at the door.
Just as one asked the other,
"Did you hear that?"
Someone or something knocked loudly
on the wooden door of the cabin.
The friends were in disbelief that anyone could have
found the cabin, and they were especially concerned
that when challenged, whoever was at the door
did not answer, they just knocked.
The friends waited for sunlight,
keeping their eyes on the door.
And when they investigated outside,
there were no tracks in the ground.
As if whatever it was, had never existed.
Number nine is The Rider.
Redditor, Rulybear, shared his experience
of being involved in a spooky wilderness mystery.
He and a few friends were riding quad bikes
across remote desert trails one night.
While they were taking a break for a moment,
they heard a noise.
It was another quad biker.
He asked if he could ride along side them.
On a narrow trail, they set off once more
with the mysterious quad biker at the back of the line.
As they reached the top of the hill,
which looked over the landscape.
The bikers looked back
to see their new companion had vanished.
Even though he had been there moments before.
Looking down at the desert, there were no lights.
And when they killed their engines,
they should have heard him,
even if he was some distance away.
But there was no hum of an engine.
The phantom rider had completely vanished.
Number eight is Digging in the Woods.
Another online poster shared their story.
They were exploring a remote area in their car.
The idea was that since they didn't know the area well,
that they could scout it out first then identify some
good hiking routes that they could later tackle on foot.
Turning onto a long stretch of track,
they continued until reaching a dead end.
Realizing it was getting dark,
they drove back the way they came.
But the return journey was very different.
Halfway along the road,
the dimmed figure of a man in tattered clothes,
came into view.
He was covered in dirt and carrying a shovel.
Clearly, he had been digging something in the woods.
Shocked, the friends drove past him
as he stared at them.
They never found out what the man was doing out there
in the middle of nowhere in the dark like that.
What he was digging up or what he was burying.
Number seven is Nearly There.
One member of a search and rescue unit,
going by the handle, Pmon13, shared an eerie story
about a missing persons case.
Two men were hiking across a back country trail,
when one of them began to feel ill.
Knowing that they were close to where they parked their car,
the sick man's friend agreed to go to the car
and get some medication for him.
He left the man sitting in the middle of the trail,
but when he returned the sick man had vanished.
The search and rescue team thought it would be easy
to find the man, seeing as that it was a busy park,
and he had been missing only for a short while.
Despite bringing in sniffer dogs and countless park rangers,
all they found was the man's phone and a few personal items.
Theories about the disappearance include,
the man having taken drugs
or that he was taken by something else entirely.
Number six is The Scent.
One story circulating about strange mysteries
in the wilderness is an unnerving encounter
in the mountains north of Idaho City.
A father and son were hunting in the woods,
when they smelled something burning.
Suddenly, something rushed through the trees towards them.
The father instinctively grabbed his son
and pulled him to the ground,
making sure that they both lay as still as possible
so as to not be found.
But when the son looked up,
he saw that an entire elk had been cremated.
They headed for the car after that,
but whatever was in the forest soon followed.
Once again they heard the sound of something rushing
through the trees.
But this time, even though it was dusk
the sky around them lit up like daylight.
When the light dimmed, they made it back to the car.
But they were never quite sure
what they had encountered out there.
Number five is The Lone Gunshot.
Redditor, Verdict_US posted about a frightening
experience that he had in 2012.
At the time, he was with a couple of friends
and had been camping in Northern California
for three months straight.
Things were going great,
that was until they hiked south
and then set up camp just as the sun began to set.
After relaxing for a while beneath the stars
they went to sleep.
In the middle of the night, they woke to the sound
of voices in the distance.
Worse still, one of the voices wasn't just talking.
It was screaming.
As the friends strain their ears
to hear what was being said,
a solitary gunshot
echoed out across the nocturnal landscape.
The screaming stopped,
so did the other two voices.
Replaced by the eeriness of the silent night.
They never found out what had happened.
But they could guess and I'm sure you could too.
Number four is Camouflage.
A common experience when in a forest
is to feel like you're being watched.
Most of the time it's nothing,
but in some instances that unsettling feeling
of being watched is there for a reason.
Take the example of one Redditor,
who used to go on climbing trips with some friends.
One time, her friend left her bag
outside of the tent overnight.
When they awoke in the morning,
the contents had been rummaged through.
They thought that it must have been an animal.
The following year however,
they camped on the same spot.
It was dark and the only light was from the campfire.
That was when they noticed something moving.
A man in camouflage gear, lying on his stomach,
watching the group.
When he realized he had been spotted,
he disappeared and they never found out
who he was or what he would have done,
had he not been seen.
Number three are Unknown Tracks.
Blogger, The Vertical Adventurer came across an
unsettling mystery while exploring
Mt. Mee National Park in Australia.
He was fascinated by the creeks there
and the surrounding forest was
lush, green, and life affirming.
He was fascinated by the creeks there
and the surrounding forest was
lush, green, and life affirming.
As he crossed a creek on a tree log,
which had fallen across the water,
he noticed something on a sandy bank.
Clear as day he could see some massive paw prints.
Along side them was a small set of similar prints.
The blogger realized that the animal had young offspring
with it and had crossed the creek across the fallen tree
like he had.
There was just one problem,
no known animal in Australia could have made those tracks.
Despite being an experienced explorer,
The Vertical Adventurer, took some photos
and left the area as quickly and quietly as he could.
For fear of disturbing something huge and unknown.
Number two is A New Friend.
One couple, while hiking on a trail to Springer Mountain,
encountered a man who offered to drive them
to a nearby campsite.
The man drove through the wilderness with them,
but ranted about how his wife was currently in labor
and he was just out to clear his mind for a while.
He then pulled up outside a strange old house
in the woods.
He persuaded the couple to take some pictures
in front of the house,
urging them to smile in one photo
and then look angry in the next.
Worried, they persuaded the man to finally
drive them to the campsite.
The couple waited at the campsite for a while
after leaving the man.
And then decided to drive their own car
to a nearby hotel just to be safe.
When they did, they saw the man sitting in his car
at the campsite, watching them.
They never found out who he was
or who's house that was in the woods.
[Matt] And number one is The Wendigo.
One Redditor was camping with a group of parents
and kids in Alberta, Canada.
They were sitting around the campfire the first night.
When from somewhere around them,
came a horrible low growl.
(growling)
Followed by a shrieking metallic whine.
Frightened, the group returned to their tents.
The next morning, few of them had slept.
They all heard the same noise during the night,
the sound of a baby crying.
(baby cries)
Some of the parents got up and searched the camp,
but they found nothing.
The next night, an emaciated man
with long matted black hair obscuring his face
was seen walking towards them from the darkness,
and that was enough.
They picked up their stuff and left.
They believed that they had encountered something there
that was supernatural but what that thing was exactly,
and what would've happened to them had they stayed,
they still til this day do not know.